For any kind of high-value object (like cars, gadgets, etc) it is important to have an accurate record which cannot be forged or manipulated by anyone who wants to play with the system and provides proof of current owner. These records should be used to
- Protect owner
- Resolve disputes
- Prevents theft by making ownership status identifiable
- Ownership transfer
- Prevent sale fraud
To demonstrate the magnitude of stolen and lost property on a global scale, the following figures give further insight into international statistics.
- 400 Million Objects are reported lost per year in the USA.
- 7.1 Million Vehicles are stolen every year in over 150 countries.
- 5.5 Million Burglaries per year are reported worldwide.
- 3 Million Baggage Items are reported lost in the EU every year.
- 2.9 Million Bicycles per year are reported stolen in the EU.
- 12.000 Laptops disappear from airports in the USA every week.
- 3.000 Laptops disappear every week from the 8 largest airports in the EU.
Considering these facts, it seems realistic to assume that the total global volume of lost and stolen objects worldwide results in far more than 1 Billion objects per year. All these objects possess a market value, and when the property is stolen, that market value is reduced, but there still remains the trading value.
At this time there is no way to know who owns what property, so thieves and fencers can make money with their crimes. Making objects identifiable will decrease the value of stolen objects. Individuals participating in fencing will begin to have items taken away from them, as police return stole items to their rightful owners. Fencing profits will be drastically reduced, and eventually, these crimes will cease to be profitable.
Thus it is important to preserve correctness and completeness of information of the records in the environment where it cannot be tempered.
This solution was first solved by Satoshi Nakamoto in Bitcoin by :
- The consensus is established using blockchain and proof of work to make the record changing costly.
- Correctness is guaranteed by protocol rules.
- Identification of the owners using the public key.
Although the problem of ownership can be solved using the colored coins concept on Bitcoin. But the solution is not viable and user-friendly for many purposes. The ownership transfer and user identification process is also cumbersome and fails to provide a viable solution to the problem. We will preserve this discussion for another article, for today let’s just talk about S4FE.
Introducing S4FE
S4FE is a decentralized search network for the property, i.e. physical objects, that is based on blockchain technology. Similar to the widespread search-engines on the Internet, users can add and search entries. The difference between the S4FE search engine is that the network is made up of physical objects.
S4FE protects property and ownership identity by creating a network, where the ownership status of objects and owner identities can be registered in cryptographically anonymized form.
S4FE offers users the ability to verify and identify the ownership status of objects anytime and anywhere in a practical and convenient way.
S4FE prevents theft and fencing crime by making property ownership status identifiable, thus eliminating the trading value of lost and stolen goods, which at the same time eliminates the incentive for crime.
S4FE rewards active participation in the network and fights crime by rewarding users for identifying and reporting lost or stolen objects to the network. This strategy is put into effect by the S4FE network itself.
How safe network is helping in making an object identifiable on Blockchain?
- Users search, verify and identify objects through the search function of the S4FE app. By providing unique identification information through the various upload options, the network can be browsed for matching objects.
- This function is available any time and anywhere, which is crucial for S4FE’s practicability: if a user finds an object or intends a purchase (private sale) the ownership status of the object can verify immediately. This function prevents unintended purchases of stolen or lost property and reduces fencing crime.
- In addition, the finder can initiate the return of lost objects they discover. To do so, users report discovered objects through the reporting option of the S4FE App, which is available during the search process.
- Reporting the discovery of a lost or stolen object requires the submission of information proving that the discovered object has in fact been located and that it is identical to the object reported as lost or stolen in the network.
- Reporting the discovery of an object will only be recognized by the network if its unique identification information is provided by proof of serial number and/or visual confirmation through photo and/or video. Through this process, unjustified and inaccurate reports of discovered items are to be kept to a minimum.
- All data is generated and processed completely anonymously. Neither S4FE nor third parties can view any identity or personal data.
The S4FE token will help in retrieving the lost item through rewards and work with multiple partners. The network effect will help in the growth of the quality of the searches and partner onboarding will help in reducing the theft and crimes. Data that S4FE makes available to commercial partners do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the identities of the original producers of this data.
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